Steps to generate external mu User type Requirements Syntax Examples Arguments Related topics

Generate a signature with the ML-DSA mechanism in CloudHSM CLI

Use the crypto sign ml-dsa command in CloudHSM CLI to generate a signature using an ML-DSA private key and the ML-DSA signing mechanism.

To use the crypto sign ml-dsa command, you must first have an ML-DSA private key in your AWS CloudHSM cluster. You can generate an ML-DSA private key using the Generate an asymmetric ML-DSA key pair with CloudHSM CLI command with the sign attribute set to true.

Note

You can verify signatures in AWS CloudHSM using The crypto verify category in CloudHSM CLI subcommands.

You can generate a signature using two data types: raw data or computed external mu data.

Steps to generate external mu

To use the external-mu data type, you must first generate a 64-byte mu digest from your message using the ML-DSA public key:

Generate the public key PEM file using the CloudHSM CLI:
```
aws-cloudhsm > key generate-file --encoding pem --path /tmp/public_key.pem --filter attr.label="mldsa-public-key-example"
```
For more information, see Export an asymmetric key with CloudHSM CLI.
Construct the message prefix:

The prefix contains a domain separator, the length of any context, and the context. The default for the domain separator and context length is zero.
Prepend the message prefix to the message.
Use SHAKE256 to hash the public key and prepend it to the result of step 3.
Hash the result to produce a 64-byte external mu:

OpenSSL example

The following example uses OpenSSL 3.5 to construct the external mu:


{
    openssl asn1parse -inform PEM -in public_key.pem -strparse 17 -noout -out - 2>/dev/null |
    openssl dgst -provider default -shake256 -xoflen 64 -binary;
    
    printf '\x00\x00';
    
    echo -n "your message"
} | openssl dgst -provider default -shake256 -xoflen 64 -binary | base64

Use the resulting base64-encoded 64-byte digest as the --data parameter with --data-type external-mu.

User type

The following types of users can run this command.

Crypto users (CUs)

Requirements

To run this command, you must be logged in as a CU.

Syntax


aws-cloudhsm > help crypto sign ml-dsa
Signs data with a ML-DSA private key

Usage: crypto sign ml-dsa [OPTIONS] --key-filter <KEY_FILTER> --data-type <DATA_TYPE> --hash-function <HASH_FUNCTION>

Options:
      --key-filter <KEY_FILTER>
          The key reference or a list of key attributes to filter for a key to sign with

      --hash-function <HASH_FUNCTION>
          The hash function to use with ML-DSA. [possible values: shake256]

      --data <DATA>
          Data to be signed

      --data-path <DATA_PATH>
          Path to file containing data to be signed

      --data-type <DATA_TYPE>
          Specifies if the data is raw or has been processed using external mu. [possible values: raw, external-mu]

      --approval <APPROVAL>
          File path of signed quorum token file to approve operation. Necessary for keys with quorum enabled

  -h, --help
          Print help

Examples

Example: Sign raw data with ML-DSA private key

Use this command to sign raw data with an ML-DSA private key.


aws-cloudhsm > crypto sign ml-dsa \
    --key-filter attr.label=ml-dsa-private-key-example \
    --data-type raw \
    --hash-function shake256 \
    --data YWJjMTIz
{
  "error_code": 0,
  "data": {
    "key-reference": "0x0000000000000f63",
    "signature": "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"
  }
}

Example: Sign external mu data with ML-DSA private key

Use this command to sign external mu data with an ML-DSA private key.


aws-cloudhsm > crypto sign ml-dsa \
    --key-filter attr.label="MLDSA_private_key" \
    --data-type external-mu \
    --hash-function shake256 \
    --data DgFbkWgb9fbejQUSbJ09/Nmp7phb714RTkWdNAwQqd9u7M7XCWbI8EoaIeGcZCUwIzaG6kDavZDYxCcaEicbTw==
{
  "error_code": 0,
  "data": {
    "key-reference": "0x0000000000000be2",
    "signature": "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"
  }
}

Example: Sign data from a file path

Use this command to sign data from a file with an ML-DSA private key.


aws-cloudhsm > crypto sign ml-dsa \
    --key-filter attr.label=ml-dsa-private-key-example \
    --data-type raw \
    --hash-function shake256 \
    --data-path /tmp/data.bin
{
  "error_code": 0,
  "data": {
    "key-reference": "0x0000000000000f63",
    "signature": "..."
  }
}

Arguments

<CLUSTER_ID>

The ID of the cluster to run this operation on.

Required: If multiple clusters have been configured.

<DATA>

Base64 encoded data to be signed.

Required: Yes (unless provided through data path)

<DATA_PATH>

Specifies the location of the data to be signed.

Required: Yes (unless provided through data)

<HASH_FUNCTION>

Specifies the hash function to use with ML-DSA.

Valid values:

shake256

Required: Yes

<KEY_FILTER>

Key reference (for example, key-reference=0xabc) or space-separated list of key attributes in the form of attr.KEY_ATTRIBUTE_NAME=KEY_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE to select a matching key.

For a listing of supported CloudHSM CLI key attributes, see Key attributes for CloudHSM CLI.

Required: Yes

<APPROVAL>

Specifies the file path to a signed quorum token file to approve an operation. Only required if the key usage service quorum value of the private key is greater than 1.

Required: No

<DATA_TYPE>

Specifies the data type of the provided data. Use raw for unhashed data; use external-mu for computed external mu data.

Valid values:

raw
external-mu

Required: Yes